U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,777 of Mar. 6, 1979, describes a connector in which each of the groups of three support rods is prior assembled to form a half connector and the groups of rods are brought face to face in machined V-shaped grooves in which they are held by means of adjustable clamping shoes.
Although it accurately centres the two optical fibres relative to each other, the connector has some disadvantages. The V-shaped guide grooves are difficult to machine and consequently they are expensive, and to ensure accurate adjustment of the clamping shoes, it is necessary to adjust them in a laboratory. Further, the connector does not rotate symmetrically and therefore gives rise to angular positioning difficulties on assembly.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a connector which is easier to manufacture, simpler in structure, allows the optical fibre axes to be aligned even on a work site, and rotates symmetrically.